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Wednesday, 16 December 2009

7. Tiffany Keys

Hello again! :)

It's great to be back here setting you a new challenge after taking a little break to deliver our 12 Days online workshops. Both of us and our respective work-rooms and all available surfaces are [almost] back in 'pre-manic-class' shape ... and we've been treating ourselves to a little luxurious eye-candy.

Well, if you can't have a little indulgence at Christmas-time then when can you? So here's what we're gazing longingly at / copying this festive season ...

*Copy*:

Tiffany Keys

According to the Tiffany website this range is: "A magical collection of Key pendants brimming with intrigue and allure" and I can't help but agree!

Not only are they aesthetically glorious, they also seem to evoke cosy feelings of home and belonging in me. In short, I love them. So much so that there's only one thing taking the edge off my adoration ... their price! At anything from £80 to £9,140 I suspect that they may stay on my 'Wish List' for quite some time.

If you get a chance have a look at the full range here on the Tiffany site ... but please don't hold me responsible for any overwhelming covetous urges you get while browsing.

So if, like me you like the idea of decorative keys but don't quite feel like offering up a vital organ / your first born child / your family car in exchange for one ... then read on ....

*Paste*

Julie's project: I bet you've got a place somewhere in your home, be it a drawer, a hook, a bowl etc in which languishes every key you've ever known but which you either [a] can't remember what they unlock and hold onto them 'just in case' or [b] you can remember what they unlock [eg: your parents' old back door!] and despite it being of no earthly use to you ...you hold onto them 'just in case'. I think you know what I'm talking about!

After visiting that key graveyard in my own home, while I may not have anything with 'Tiffany' etched on them, I do have some rather lovely new Christmas tree decorations:

Above I used jewellery findings to add a section of crochet haberdashery trimming to a decorative key, which I think came from an old padlocked diary.Meanwhile the photo below shows a key from a padlock [which came from a Christmas cracker!] which I coated with Glossy Accents and Pearl Pigment powder then added a gold bow to the top:

More haberdashery / key action, with a pearl heart gem:

And finally, the equivalent of the £9,000 diamond encrusted Tiffany versions here's the key to my parents' old back door, encrusted with [plastic] gems, black [plastic] pearls, Glossy Accents and wire:

Best of all ... my new ornaments cost me nothing as they were made entirely from things I already had, so I can put all my spare funds toward saving for the real thing!

*Paste*

Kirsty's project:

Like Julie, I too have a place for keys old, spare and of uncertain origin. When I come across one, I put it in a safe place, ready for . . . well, times just like this, when I have need of an otherwise useless key. The trouble with safe places, however, is that you can only ever locate them once - the once when you put something there to keep it safe. It isn't just me, right? So, short of sacrificing my front door keys, or driving the length of the country to raid Julie's highly-organised key bowl, I had to improvise.Languishing in my art cupboard (it's next to the boiler cupboard, and so very warm and enticing just now), I have two boxes which don't get used as often as they should. One contains moulding paste and the other, resin. They work beautifully together, and the paste seemed a perfect way of recreating a real key without suddenly finding myself locked out.

Making a mould is as simple as pressing the key into a sausage-shaped lump of paste, and I then added the resin and waited patiently until it had set (that's 'patiently' like an eight-year old on Christmas eve...). Once de-moulded, I spread a small amount of clear-drying glue over one side and sprinkled some super-fine glitter on top for a shimmery finish. At this point, you could happily use the pretty, sparkly, semi-transparent key as an ornament, to decorate a card or layout, or - taking inspiration from Julie's pictures above - tie it to a length of ribbon (Tiffany turquoise, please) and hang as a tree decoration.

To up the ante a little, though, I added mine to a junky, vintage-inspired necklace - a length of silver chain, some threaded pearls and crystal beads, a few chunky turquoise beads and a scrap of Tiffany-inspired ribbon to really highlight the key.It might not be quite as festive as Julie's project, but there's really no reason you shouldn't look every bit as well-decorated as the tree at this time of year.

By the way - as pointed out by Kirsty - 'Tiffany Keys' does rather sound like a real person doesn't she it rather than an item of luxury jewellery?!!!

Anyway ...you could be brave, open up that much neglected junk drawer, dig out all your old keys and make some Christmas ornaments as I did or:

use an old key on a greetings card [especially fitting for 21st birthdays / new home cards];

create grungy 'steam-punk' styled projects using old, tarnished keys;

or spray / paint them cream and add pretty ribbons and hang from hooks / peg rails for a 'country chic' feel;

Or you might take altogether a less literal approach, perhaps you could:

take a photograph / make a layout / write a poem / record a story about a set of keys which have been significant to you in your life.

Whatever you decided to do we want to see it - remember to link us up to your project or leave it in our Copy+Paste Flickr gallery. We love to see how you all copy the same inspiration point and yet go on to paste such unique responses and we hope you can have a bit of fun with this challenge even at such a busy time of year!

I'm now going to make a swift exit before I succumb to the urge to make a pun about your contributions being the 'key' to our Copy+Paste community ... or something equally as comedically feeble!!

Nice to see you again, it's been fun, we should definitely do this again sometime!

Fabulous 'inspiration prod' as always! Who knew keys could make such pretty tree decorations? I know what I'll be making several of next year...And the resin key is so clever, lovely the sparkles too.When I surface from the mass Christmas present making quagmire I'm in, I'll give this a go!

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*the copy and pasters*

*ctrl+c and ctrl+v*

Being creative and original doesn't always have to begin with re-invented wheels, clean slates and blank pages.

*COPY*:There's a world of perfectly ingenious mind-stirring quotations, lyrics, conversations, designs, photographs, bits, pieces and miscellaneous bobs out there ... and we like to find them and share them with you.

*PASTE*: Sometimes we take from these 'found' gems and make something satisfyingly new from paper, paint, pixels, fineliners, fabric, fluff, glue, crayon, words ... mime ... OK, maybe not mime. And sometimes we just look at them and take in their fabulousness.

We'd love it if you picked up your creative-tool-of-choice and do some copying and pasting alongside us, and we'd be jsut as happy if you dropped by to read and look at the work of some great artists and creative people.We'd be happier still if you'd bring a friend with you... and some refreshments.